It was Harry S. Truman who said that "not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." It is true that readers make good leaders or that readers become excellent leaders that are respected and reckoned with, but being a reader does not necessarily make you a leader. If argued in the affirmative, the topic, in and of itself, would suggest that everyone who reads leads, which is not valid. I would submit that reading is a means to an end, the end being leading, but it is not the end itself.
To understand this point entirely, we have to define and comprehend what each of the words: readers and leaders mean. As defined by the English dictionary, a reader is "a person who reads a publication; a person who recites literary works; a proofreader; a person employed by a publisher to read works submitted for publication and determine their merits." Mariam Webster defines a reader as "one that reads; one who evaluates periodical literature to discover items of special interest or value; a person who reads a book, magazine, newspaper et cetera." In these definitions, the word read takes the central stage, so it is necessary to define the root word, read, to understand the word reader.
Read, as defined by the English dictionary, is "to look at and interpret letters or other information that is written; to interpret or infer a meaning, significance, thought, or intention." Using these definitions, we realize that a reader is someone who interprets; who infers thoughtful meanings or significance to a material that is being read. I would also love to extrapolate that reading does not only imply written text but also situations and experiences, whether personal or from others. A reader would also be able to interpret and give meaningful thoughts to different life experiences.
When we do read this way, that is, when we read and can interpret, give thoughts and meanings to the text we read, then we can expand our horizons and develop the mind. We can experience more of the world than many who do not appreciate the value of reading. As Barack Obama rightly states, "reading is important. If you know how to read, then the whole world opens up to you". Reading expands the reader's horizon; it makes the world open up as we can understand the writer's motive, culture, creed, and beliefs. We see parts of the world we have never been to by just picking up a book, and this is, in essence, giving meaning to what is being written.
All of these implies that reading makes us better thinkers; it improves our relationship with the world; it builds for us a wealth of information, and most importantly, I believe, it grants us a better perspective of the world we live in, and therefore makes us deal with everyday issues more efficiently. Yet by reading alone, can we call ourselves or anyone in particular leaders? The answer, I must categorically state, is in the negative. To be a leader would require more than reading. This begs the question of who or what a leader is.
As defined by the English dictionary, a leader is "any person that leads or directs; one having authority to direct; a person or organization that leads in a certain field in terms of excellence, success, et cetera.". Mariam Webster's dictionary defines it as "a person who leads: as a guide, conductor; a person who has commanding authority or influence." Similarly, we shall look into the root word, which in this case would be lead, and then infer the meaning thereof.
Lead, as defined by the English dictionary, is "to guide or conduct in a certain course, or to a certain place or end by making the way known; to direct, to counsel, instruct; to conduct or direct with authority, to have direction or to be in charge of…" Mariam Webster defines it as "to guide on a certain way, to direct on a course, to serve as a channel."
We can then conclude that a leader guides, directs, counsels organizes, is in charge of, or has authority over people. We are essentially saying that a leader must not just have mental prowess; he must have the administrative qualities to be able to organize and take sufficient charge of those in his jurisdiction. I would love to point out here that leaders exist in every society. They form the backbone of every community and culture from time immemorial, and I believe they would continue to do so far into the future. We find leaders in fathers, in mothers, siblings, and a community elder. My point here is that they do not have to be known to be effectively termed leaders, but they fulfill, in every sense, what leadership means.
Leaders do not essentially stop at just gathering information; they can put the information to good use and can organize and direct people to wherever they believe their immediate society should be. They not only identify the community's problems but also put their knowledge into good use by actively finding a solution and directing people to effect it into action. Leaders see, they know, understand, and are perfectly able to interpret a situation, give meaningful thoughts to situations, and then go all the way into effectively dealing with whatever the problem is.
They can direct and effectively guide followers. Leaders face many issues and malcontents from the people they are supposedly leading yet with patience, fortitude, and perseverance, they convince and lead them to the "promised land." One does not have to go beyond the biblical example of Moses to learn the difference between a reader and a leader. He was a prince, so definitely he was learned, but he put all that reading to fair use and developed other characteristics such as patience and perseverance. All of these qualified him to be named among leaders who were and are still outstanding.
Reading makes you a better leader, but it does not make you a leader. It is, to me, one of the tools by which we can effectively direct, guide, and control people wherever we are. A leader must have a vision: where he wants his people to be and what he wants them to do. Theodore Hesburgh correctly states that "the very essence of leadership is that you have to have a vision." A leader who is a reader expands and magnifies the vision he or she has concocted. It helps them to, very clearly, identify the mistakes of predecessors and chart a course of action.
Identification and magnification of the vision do not yet make one a leader; the person must now re-orient the populace's minds, organize them and, with patience and perseverance, effectively deal with situations that might arise. Harry S. Truman's quote puts paid to all arguments when he said that "not all readers are leaders, but leaders are readers." It is necessary to understand the importance of reading as a leader. Many respected leaders have testified to the immutable power of reading as an essential tool in leadership.
Frederick Douglas stated that "once you learn to read, you will be forever free." This quote is one that I have come to appreciate as it greatly amplifies and correctly distills the power of reading. I believe that when he says free, he implies that the mind would not be imprisoned in the box that humans have so created for themselves and are scared of leaving. The mind would see and think outside the box, creating for itself an abode that is not entangled with fear and timidity. The ability to read is scary, and when someone applies tenacity to this venture, it really must make the person respected because, as we all know, Knowledge is Power.
Knowledge is power not because someone has an abundance of it but because a person can use the little they have gotten to change the world. Someone who can do this is a leader. It implies that a leader can put the knowledge he or she has attained to good use. Jesse Jackson once said that "time is neutral and does not change things. With courage and initiative, leaders change things." Jesse understood that a leader is one with an initiative which is vision, that the power of reading expands this initiative or idea. She didn't stop there; she included courage as a virtue a leader must possess, a virtue to which a reader might not really lay a claim.
In summary, "a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." This is a quote by John C. Maxwell, and I dare say, he is right. A leader knows the way by reading but then transverses the way and then shows it to others. Readers are limited to just knowing the way, and this in itself does not, in any way, make them leaders. They have only fulfilled a part of the criteria necessary to be a leader. Are readers truly leaders? Without further ado, the answer is no, but all leaders must be readers.
